1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a grass collecting apparatus for directing grass clippings cut by a mower unit to a grass catcher and to a lawn mower having such a grass collecting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Under certain circumstances where grass clippings cut by a mower unit are not allowed to be directly discharged, the grass clippings need to be temporarily stored in a grass catcher through a grass collecting duct or the like. A lawn mower having such a grass collecting apparatus travels to a predetermined grass clippings dumping area when a predetermined amount of grass clippings has accumulated in the grass catcher to discharge the grass clippings from the grass catcher. In order to prevent the grass clippings from falling off an opening of the grass catcher and scattering outside the grass clippings dumping area before the grass catcher reaches a predetermined position in time of discharging the grass clippings, various devices have been proposed.
For example, Japanese Patent Application “Kokai” No. 03-004714 discloses a grass collecting apparatus comprising a lid member and a guide member openable and closable by the lid member, both provided in an opening of a grass catcher. During a mowing operation, the lid member is closed to store grass clippings directed from a duct in a grass catcher through the guide member in a guiding position. In time of discharging the grass clippings, the grass catcher is pulled off the duct of the lawn mower and carried to a grass clippings dumping area. Then, the lid member is pivoted and opened while the guide member is also pivoted to an open position to leave a large opening for discharging the grass clippings from the grass catcher.
Instead of the construction requiring the operator to carry the grass catcher to the grass clippings dumping area, an arrangement has been proposed in which the lawn mower moves to the grass clippings dumping area where the grass clippings are discharged from the grass catcher. One example of such a lawn mower is known from Japanese Patent Application “Kokai” No. 2001-275438. This lawn mower comprises a vertically movable link mechanism, a grass container connected to the vertically movable link mechanism to be pivotable about a transverse support shaft to switch between a grass collecting position and a grass discharging position, an openable and closable lid provided in the grass container to be pivotable about a transverse support shaft for opening and closing an opening formed at a rear end of the grass container, a hydraulic cylinder extending between the vertically movable link mechanism and the grass container for switching the position of the grass container, and a link mechanism disposed between the vertically movable link mechanism and the openable and closable lid for opening and closing the lid in response to the switching operations of the position of the grass container. The grass container is switched from the grass collecting position to the grass discharging position when in a raised position remote from the grass collecting duct, thereby to discharge the grass clippings from the grass container. In this type of lawn mower, however, backlash may be produced in the link mechanism interlocked with the switching operations of the position of the grass container for opening and closing the lid. As a result, grass clippings sometimes fall off between the grass container and the openable and closable lid during running of the lawn mower.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,072 discloses a lawn mower comprising a movable flap disposed in an area between a grass collecting duct and a grass catcher. The movable flap is displaced to a position to close an opening of the grass catcher when the grass catcher is raised away from the grass collecting duct, thereby to prevent grass clippings from being inadvertently discharged from the opening of the grass catcher. In this type of lawn mower also, the grass clippings could fall off between the closed movable flap and the opening of the grass catcher unless the movable flap has a precisely manufactured displacement mechanism.